Deep in the waters off northwestern Russia, search teams have located World War II-era American M4 Sherman Tanks. These machines went down with the Thomas Donaldson, a US cargo vessel that was lost on March 20, 1945.
At the time of its sinking, the Thomas Donaldson was navigating the Barents Sea as the 20th vessel in a convoy bound for the Kola Inlet. At approximately 1:15 PM, a torpedo struck the ship’s starboard side about 20 miles from the inlet’s entrance. The direct hit devastated the engine room, completely destroying the engines and instantly claiming the lives of one officer and two crew members who were on duty below deck.
Given the severe damage, Captain Robert Headden ordered an evacuation just ten minutes after the impact. The ship carried a complement of eight officers, 34 sailors, and 27 armed guards. Most of the men escaped using a raft and two port-side lifeboats, later being rescued by the HMS Bamborough Castle. Others who had jumped directly into the freezing water were pulled to safety by the HMS Oxlip, though one rescued sailor tragically died shortly afterward.
Captain Headden and a skeleton crew of eight men initially stayed behind in an attempt to save the vessel. They were eventually taken aboard the HMS Honeysuckle, which began towing the crippled merchant ship toward the Kola Inlet. By 4:30 PM, a Soviet tugboat took over the towing operation. However, the damage was too extensive; the Thomas Donaldson sank stern-first at 5:45 PM, coming to rest just half a mile off the coast of Kildin Island.
To recover the sunken American tanks, dive teams had to work at a depth of 164 feet. It took them over a week of clearing heavy debris from the ship’s deck before they could safely access the vehicles, a process that also heavily relied on remote-controlled submersibles. Vice Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, commander of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet, confirmed that the recovery mission is ongoing and that crews plan to raise additional armored vehicles from the wreckage.
